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Monday, December 14, 2015

Shut Up, I Explained

T he most celebrated change brought about
by Vatican II was that the Mass could now be said in the vernacular –
the languages of various countries; previously, it was said in Latin
everywhere. This was taken to mean that it must be said in the vernacular, which was never the case.

Congregations
went hog-wild. Soon there were folk-rock Masses, hootenanny Masses,
puppet Masses, and so on. Encouraged to participate more actively in the
Mass, congregations were soon flailing their arms around, adopting
postures reserved for priests, and undertaking other alterations to the
principal service of the Church. Those who looked askance were told to
get with “the spirit of Vatican II.”

Priest Imitation

Modern Mass is conducted as if silence
is the enemy, that there should never be a time when there isn’t
something noisy going on. Active participation is so encouraged that it
sometimes seems as if there isn’t an opportunity to contemplate the
mysteries of faith. Even during communion itself, the most fundamental
of the seven sacraments, congregants are expected to sing rather than
think about how profound it all is.

The
Latin Mass is quiet, often silent or close to it. The Church teaches
(and I think it stands to reason) that prayer must include listening, to
hear what God tells us. This is easier to do, especially for easily
distracted persons such as myself, when there’s not sensory overload.
When there is music with the traditional Mass (as Fr. Jonas hopes to
institute from time to time, employing seminarians), it is typically in
the form of chants that encourage this phenomenon rather than replace
it.

Modern Mass has in some
ways unintentionally come to resemble, say, a PTA meeting. The instant
it is over, people are talking and laughing, greeting people across the
room, immediately transported from whatever was going on minutes before
to the modern secular world. Those who wish to stay and pray must have
powers of concentration that far exceed my own. (I am as guilty of these
things as anyone else, alas.) The Latin Mass ends in silence, and
congregants remain silent; most remain to continue their prayer.